The dust hasn’t settled yet in Noah Lyles’ Time Magazine interview before the 2024 Paris Olympics. Lyles did not take a shot at the NBA as he did in August 2023 after winning three gold medals in the World Championships. In a talk with Sean Gregory, the sprint star questioned Adidas’ decision to prioritize Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards over him.
The Paris Olympics’ men’s 100m gold-medal winner had this to say to Gregory when Adidas invited him to attend Edwards’ signature shoe launching:
“You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?”
Lyles added:
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“No disrespect: the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’”
New York Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony responded to Noah Lyles’ comments in the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast:
“Why do you keep shooting at the NBA? If you wanna shoot, shoot at the fact that you ain’t got no league for your own. Shoot at that! Shoot at why they ain’t pouring money into that sport which they should be.
“You wanna be the world champion, you wanna be an Olympic gold medallist, fine. We support you 1000% but don’t be comparing none of that s**t to what we have going on over here.”
“Melo” added that Noah Lyles could have directly asked for help on social media for others to support track and field. Anthony commented that the track star should have pushed for more “attention” and “resources” to his sport without disparaging the NBA.
Carmelo Anthony warns Noah Lyles before sending him a message
Carmelo Anthony acknowledged that he is not an NBA champion but he understands how the league works. The former Team USA basketball star explained how Noah Lyles should have a “deeper understanding” of how marketing and promotion work.
The New York Knicks legend did not hold back as well:
“Don’t keep playing those games ‘cause what’s gonna end up happening is all of these people will start turning on you ‘cause you’re not gonna start making no sense.”
“Melo didn’t stop with just a warning, he had a message for the sprint star:
“Noah, we [NBA] wanna support you. We gonna support you. You are the third-fastest n***a but champ, let’s do this together. Let’s support everybody ‘cause we’re in this together.”
Noah Lyles never shies away from making comments. It remains to be seen if he will respond to Carmelo Anthony’s warning or message.
